Innholdsfortegnelse for September - October 2016 i Bassmaster

Alabama’s Hunter Penney is just one of 12 high school anglers named to the 2016 Bassmaster All-American High School Fishing Team (p. 48). This elite group of youngsters was matched with Elite Series pros for a one-day exhibition derby on Oklahoma’s McGee Creek Lake during BASSfest this past June. Carl Jocumsen was Penney’s pro partner, and the pair landed this stud largemouth to boost their two-fish limit to 6-10, good enough for a third-place finish. Although both anglers would normally rush back to fishing after the bass was landed, this was no normal circumstance. How often does a high school angler get to spend a day fishing with one of the best anglers in the world? So, to document the catch for historical reflection, the pair took a selfie.…

There comes a time in every person’s fishing career when they are standing at the edge of the water, wishing they had some tackle. Well, here is a project that will help you keep hooks, weights and swivels forever handy. Create a tiny tacklebox out of popsicle sticks and an Altoids tin that you can store virtually anywhere. Plus, stream anglers and kayak fishermen can keep this in a pocket to stay lightweight and mobile. 1 Trim the corners of a standard membership card/gift card so it fits easily inside the tin. 2 Cut popsicle sticks to the following lengths to create the tackle slots: three at 2 1/4 inches, one at 1 1/4 inches, two at 2 3/4 inches and three at 1 7/8 inches. 3 To create the…

Bass fishing has grown from humble U.S. origins to become a passion of anglers around the world. But not every country embraces the native U.S. species. Despite the popularity of bass fishing, Japan has labeled the bass as an invasive and undesirable species and implemented eradication programs. And earlier this year, the Spanish government announced a similar plan to eradicate non-native fish, including bass, from Spain’s waterways. Spanish anglers weren’t too happy about the plan. According to Angling-International.com Angling-International.com, nearly 300,000 protesters lined the streets of Madrid in June to express their displeasure with the eradication plan. Opponents described the plan as “ludicrous” and said it would have far-reaching effects on Spain, which boasts one of Europe’s largest recreational fishing markets. Bass, catfish and carp were principal targets of the…

Fall Options After a brutal summer, mornings are getting crisp and daytime highs no longer sap your strength. We’re in the Midsouth, on a large, old reservoir that features largemouth bass. The lake is big, heavily developed and highly pressured, with an average depth of 45 feet and visibility of 3 to 5 feet. Water temperatures are in the upper 60s to low 70s. Because the lake is an old one, the upper end is silted. Whatever wood was there is mostly gone. For cover, the fish have boat docks, laydowns, bridges, riprap and rock. For structure, there are points and channels, bluffs and flats and a few old roadbeds. The bass’ menu includes shad, crawfish, panfish and blueback herring. The weather has been stable, and the next front is…

IN RECENT YEARS, it’s been the monster cranks that have grabbed the headlines on the Elite Series. Baits like the Strike King 10XD have pushed the attainable diving range well past 20 feet, and others, like the 3-ounce Lucky Craft SKT Magnum, have required that bass anglers invest in new tackle to throw them. Bill Lowen’s not afraid to go big or go home, but while the mega-lures are attention grabbing and can be effective tools, he’s more likely to go to the other end of the spectrum in competition, pulling out a diminutive crank to put fish in his livewell. There are more tough days on the tournament trail than there are lights-out slugfests, and Lowen’s Ohio River roots have allowed him to build a career that’s been a…

GETTING A BASS to bite when it’s locked on cover in an ambush mode is easy. But what about those stubborn bass that hover well off a deep bottom in open water? We’ve all encountered that on a late fall or early winter day. We know the bass are there — we can see them on our electronics — suspended around balls of bait. It’s enough to drive a reformed alcoholic to drinking again. But there may be one tool in your tacklebox that could be a difference maker and provoke even the most sedentary bass into striking. Or perhaps the entire school. We’re talking jerkbaits, but not the conventional, shallow-water twitch minnows most anglers carry. When the fish are languishing off the bottom in deep water, you need something…

AS THE WEATHER continued to cool down each day of the 2016 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open at the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Wesley Strader struggled to find a consistent pattern. The first two days of the January tournament, Strader caught Florida largemouth on a Zoom Fluke, Zoom Magnum Ultravibe Speed Worm and a homemade bladed jig tipped with a Zoom Swimmin Fluke Jr, but by the third morning, he encountered calm, cool weather and sunny skies. The water temperature was hovering around 58 degrees, and the sluggish bass were ignoring his action lures, so Strader switched to ... a topwater bait? Even though he suspected the fish were lethargic that morning, Strader knew Florida bass would still hit a topwater bait in the cold conditions. So he tied…

Kayak manufacturers say don’t keep your plastic boat with just the bow and aft supported, which means many kayak trailers aren’t suitable for long-term storage. If you leave your boat resting on just two bars fore and aft, it could lead to a warped kayak. To modify this type of trailer, avert warping and allow your kayak to stay on it between fishing trips, add 3-inch PVC pipe to support most of your kayak’s hull. Determine how far apart the PVC needs to be so it supports much of the hull, but isn’t so close together that the kayak atop becomes top-heavy and unstable. Cut your PVC to leave just a couple inches of overhang. 1 Mark your holes so the pipes run parallel to each other and drill from…

It’s one thing to miscount the number of fish in your livewell or creel, but it would be hard for one Louisiana angler to claim anything more than greed and bad judgment in explaining his June citation for taking over his limit of largemouth bass. According to NOLA.com and the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, a 32-year-old Terrebonne Parish man was stopped by enforcement agents for a safety check on the Antill Canal. When they looked in his ice chest, they found 26 largemouth bass; the area’s daily limit is 10. Possessing over the limit of black bass carries a $100 to $350 fine and up to 60 days in jail. The angler also could face civil restitution of up to $215. Enforcement agents confiscated the illegal fish and…

ONE THING THAT we know about the best anglers in the world is that they are going to exhaust all options when searching for fish. Another thing that we know is that when they get badly beaten in a tournament, they want to figure out how and why it happened. That was the scenario that led Skeet Reese to his approach to fishing for spotted bass. It was a Western tournament result that made him realize he had a lot to learn when it came to spotted bass fishing. “It was a tournament in the mid ’90s on Shasta Lake, and Gary Dobyns beat us all badly by throwing a spinnerbait for spotted bass suspended in standing timber,” said the eight-time B.A.S.S. winner. “He weighed 15 pounds and won by…

HOW WOULD A B.A.S.S. Elite Series pro angler tackle that little ol’ lake down the road where you and your buddies fish for bass? That’s what we aim to find out in Bassmaster’s “Day on the Lake” series! This month Andy Montgomery takes our challenge. The amiable Blacksburg, South Carolina pro, 33, kicked off his career on the FLW tour; he’s fished B.A.S.S. events for five years and has qualified for two Classics. Here’s what happened October 22, 2015 when we put Montgomery on Lake R, a small, remote reservoir. Having trouble getting a handle on fall bass patterns? Paying heed to what follows could help you put an autumn lunker in your livewell! » 5:46 a.m. It’s 49 degrees with clear skies when I meet Montgomery at his motel.…

“If we get some heavy rains in late September, I start looking in the pockets for shad and bass feeding on them.” AS SEPTEMBER TRANSITIONS into October, Bassmaster Elite Series pro angler Marty Robinson’s “enthusiasm quotient” for bass fishing takes a sharp upward turn. He explains, “Here in upper South Carolina [Robinson’s home state], it’s still hot in September, and baitfish in our upland reservoirs [Robinson’s home waters] are suspended and roaming around over deep channels. And bass are following them and keeping on the move, which makes them hard to pinpoint. For me, September is one of the toughest fishing months on the calendar. “But by the first week or two of October, water temperatures are beginning to cool down, and baitfish and bass start migrating up tributary creeks…

Get a grip Only five of the 18 pictures in the June 2016 “Lunker Club” show the angler holding the fish by both its lower lip and tail. I thought that the heavier the fish, the greater the chance of dislocating the jaw of the fish. As these are primarily catch-and-release fish, their life might just be shortened significantly. Perhaps Bassmaster should consider accepting no photos of anglers holding their lunkers by only their lower lip. Al Turner, California Go North I was a very early member of B.A.S.S. and enjoyed the great articles. I even have a very early patch and a Harry and Charlie patch. I did not renew membership because every article was centered around the South, Southeastern, Midwest and California. Recently, my wife surprised me with…

Shenandoah/Potomac rivers Harpers Ferry, W.Va. The Shenandoah and Upper Potomac rivers in West Virginia offer superb floats for kayak anglers looking to tussle with smallmouth bass. Your guide: Zak Wortman, a guide for White Fly Outfitters in Harpers Ferry Where to fish: Two downriver trips are especially good for kayak anglers. One starts six miles above the Melville Dam on the Shenandoah; Wortman advises casting to shady areas and rock or wood structure along the banks. The other begins on the Potomac at the 340 Bridge. Here, Wortman recommends probing upstream and downstream pockets of big boulders and tail-out areas below islands and riffles in this wider waterway. White Fly Outfitters offers a shuttle service to get you back to your launch site. What to throw: Topwaters work summer and…

“Of all liars among mankind, the fisherman is the most trustworthy.” William Sherwood Fox Bass tournaments have employed various methods to deter and detect cheating since the earliest days of the sport. As kayak bass tournaments have gained in popularity in recent years, tournament organizers have started to implement some of the same measures in the less lucrative kayak tournaments. According to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, organizers of the Minnesota Kayak Fishing Association plan to start using voice stress tests as a way to protect their tournaments’ integrity. “It weeds out the cheaters,” said Grant Carson, an official with the Minnesota group. “As we grow, we want to make sure we don’t have any of that.” Although Carson noted the association hasn’t had any problems in the past, the association has…

More than 100,000 largemouth bass fingerlings gained their release from an Arkansas prison in June, the result of an ongoing partnership between the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC), the Arkansas Department of Corrections and Arkansas bass anglers. During the Simmons Bank Big Bass Bonanza, which was held June 24-26 on the entire length of the Arkansas River within the borders of Arkansas, AGFC fisheries staff delivered fingerling bass that were raised at a pond at Cummins Correctional Facility to tournament anglers to stock in the river. The program, which started in 2001 and has resulted in more than 1 million bass being stocked in the Arkansas River, relies on spring bass tournaments on the lower Arkansas River to provide brood stock. AGFC staff stock the fish in a pond…

1 Rodman Reservoir This is the highest ranked lake this year in the state, and for good reason. Monsters have emerged here and 70 bass over 8 pounds were submitted to the TrophyCatch program between January and May. 2 Lake Istokpoga If you want to bypass the 8-pounders and head straight for double-digit bass, visit this lake. Anglers landed 14 bass exceeding the 10-pound mark, with a 12-12 topping the list. 3 Lake Tohopekaliga This bass factory keeps on spitting out big fish. Remember, it’s where Dean Rojas set the all-time B.A.S.S. five-fish limit record with 45 pounds, 2 ounces. By the way, that limit would have earned him $500 in TrophyCatch gift cards! 4 St. Johns River This might be Rick Clunn’s favorite fishery now, after he landed 31-7…

JUST ABOUT EVERY sport in high school announces its cream-of-the-athletic-crop via an All-American team. Last year, Bassmaster decided it was high time competitive bass fishing was represented in the same manner. The program is called the Bassmaster All-American Team, and any high school student can apply. This year, more than 220 exceptional anglers from 36 states were nominated based on their tournament successes, community service records and academic achievements. Of these, 64 were selected as members of the Bassmaster All-State team (a maximum of two anglers per state received this accolade). From the 64 All-State anglers, the 12 most impressive high school anglers in the nation were named to the All-American team. Allow us to introduce you to the future of our sport. There is no doubt you’ll agree, bass…

Challenge 1: Locating Bass During Reservoir Drawdown “TVA and Army Corps of Engineers reservoirs usually undergo a significant ‘drawdown’ [lowering] in fall,” Tennessee pro David Mullins points out. “This is done as a flood control measure; over the course of several weeks, the lake may be lowered significantly in anticipation of heavy winter and spring rains. During this process, shallow, submerged weedbeds, rocks and wood cover that held bass during spring and summer will be left high and dry as the lake level recedes.” Many anglers assume bass will invariably back out into deeper water, especially river-channel structure, when lake managers “pull the plug” in fall. But this isn’t necessarily the case, Mullins has found. “Bass will go where their food source goes, and one reason shad move shallow now…

Chapman Hellgrammite A New York jeweler and watchmaker, W.D. Chapman manufactured a line of metal lures instrumental in the development of American fishing plugs. Featuring a spinning body, Chapman’s 1880 brass Hellgrammite was among more than 90 different lures sold by his company, billed in 1886 as “the largest manufacturer of trolling baits in the United States.” Chapman’s most profitable invention, however, was a spring bird-cage holder. Despite his financial successes, his company was bankrupt and under new management by 1897. Current value of a Chapman Hellgrammite: $1,000. $50 It needs to have “Record” instead of “Abu” or be gold plated to be worth more than $50. Reference collection I have a complete collection of Bassmaster Magazines from 1971 to the current date in mint shape. They are not for…